Alcohol Use, Mental Health Disability, and Violence Victimization in College Women: Exploring Connections

Abstract

The present study is an analysis of in-depth interviews with college women reporting a mental health disability and at least one experience of intimate partner violence (IPV) or sexual violence (SV) to elucidate how alcohol use is associated with both violence victimization and mental health symptoms. Our findings underscore salient alcohol-related themes in college women with histories of IPV/SV and mental health disability: alcohol use in their family of origin and/or with intimate partners, partying and heavy drinking as a normal college social context, abusive partners and SV perpetrators using alcohol as a mechanism for control and targeted rape, and worsening mental health symptoms after violence exposure, which prompted alcohol use to cope and was associated with vulnerability to more violence.